Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s harrowing 1936 opera on the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War, Simplicius Simplicissimus, has long been recognized as a major work, probably the most important military-themed German opera between Wozzeck and Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten, but it is rarely performed outside of Germany, so it is good to have a performance available on video…the 2005 production from Staatsoper Stuttgart has some musical virtues, particularly the beautifully sung and characterized protagonist of Claudia Mahnke…The singing is often very fine, particularly Michael Ebbecke as the Mercenary, Heinz Göhrig as the Governor, and Mark Munkittrick as the Captain. Mahnke delivers a star performance, giving the production at least one element of coherence. Kwamé Ryan leads the Staatsorchester and Staatsopernchor Stuttgart in the composer’s first version of the opera, which uses a much smaller orchestra than his 1956 revision, but he also happily includes the musically substantial and deeply effective Interlude that the composer added to the score in 1939.

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